Haji Ali Dargah Trust gives in to backlash, to allow women to enter shrine within a month

The petition against the ban was filed by Muslim women's group Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan in November 2014.

The trust challenged this verdict in the SC saying that allowing women inside the inner sanctum would mean putting them in close proximity to a male saint, which is regarded as a sin.Wikimedia Commons

The Haji Ali Trust on Monday conceded before the Supreme Court and said that women would be allowed to enter the inner sanctum of the Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai within a month.

"Women will be treated at par with men," the Haji Ali trust told the apex court almost two months after the Bombay High Court delivered the landmark verdict of allowing women to enter the inner sanctum of the dargah. However, the court had given the trust six weeks to appeal against the verdict in the SC.

The trust challenged this verdict in the SC saying that allowing women inside the inner sanctum would mean putting them in close proximity to a male saint, which is regarded as a sin. It had argued that the ban was put in place for the safety of women devotees because of huge crowds visiting the shrine.

The petition against the ban was filed by Muslim women's group Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan in November 2014. The group had claimed that the dargah's trust put the ban in place in 2011, despite 12 of the 19 major dargahs in Mumbai allowing women to enter the inner sanctum of the dargah.